Just to experience

Maharaj: ...At the root of consciousness lies desire, the urge to experience.
   — I Am That

If this statement is true on a very simple level, then wouldn't any experience be equally satisfying? Whether pleasant or painful, any experience would be good. Craving and aversion become equal as long as they are felt, or experienced. The curiosity then is not that one person says to another, "Yuck, this stinks! Here, smell this."; rather, that the other person leans over and smells it. Shock jocks have good ratings because they create emotion in people. The most outrageous material on YouTube is watched the most. Sitcoms do well whether they invoke laughter of cause us to cringe when somebody is horribly embarrassed. People form into groups with no apparent purpose other than to hate somebody else. Even something as mundane as the news no longer cares about the news as it is that which causes the greatest emotion - whether aversion, pity, outrage or fear - that sells.

Perhaps we don't seek happiness, we simply need to feel.